Applications Software does the specific things you want the computer to do. Whereas the Operating System is general instructions to the computer for controlling the Hardware, Applications Software is specific instructions that work together with the Operating System to do work for you.

There are as many different kinds of Applications Software as there are things you could want to do with a computer, however the most common are word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and database software. Word processing software is used to write documents, which are formatted pages of text, such as letters or essays. Spreadsheet software organises data, usually numbers, into columns and rows. It is used mostly for accounting and has many features for doing mathematical operations. Presentation software is used to make virtual (or, simulated) slide shows and usually have all sorts of cool features for animations and sounds that you just can’t do in a normal slide show. Database software is an advanced way of organising complicated information in simple formats.